biology

Gordon Gunter

Gordon Gunter is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gordon Gunter rather than just read about it. In short: Gordon Pennington Gunter (August 18, 1909 – December 19, 1998) was an American marine biologist and fisheries scientist. He is noted for his pioneering study of fisheries in the northern Gulf of Mexico, a topic to which he devoted his entire professional life over a career spanning 60 years.

Key takeaways

Gordon Gunter belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gordon Gunter to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gordon Gunter from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gordon Pennington Gunter (August 18, 1909 – December 19, 1998) was an American marine biologist and fisheries scientist. He is noted for his pioneering study of fisheries in the northern Gulf of Mexico, a topic to which he devoted his entire professional life over a career spanning 60 years. His own research, and that of the scientists under his direction, established an understanding of the ecology, comparative physiology of the plant and animal life, and commercial fisheries of the region, and he coined the phrase "fertile fisheries crescent" to refer to Mississippi Sound and adjacent waters along the United States Gulf Coast. He also pioneered the study of the comparative physiology of shellfish and fish.

Early life Gordon Pennington Gunter was born in Goldonna, Louisiana, on August 18, 1909. Arriving at Louisiana State Normal College in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with plans to study to become a lawyer or a French scholar, he instead took a strong interest in biology as soon as he took his first college course in the subject, and he graduated in 1929 with a Bachelor of Arts in Zoology. He then attended the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, to study bacteriology and received a master's degree in 1931.

Career

Early career After graduation, Gunter became a researcher for the United States Bureau of Fisheries, studying shrimp and oysters in Louisiana and Florida. He also studied ichthyology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, and participated in the U.S. Engineers Office′s Debris Dam Fisheries Survey.

University of Texas In 1939, Gunter returned to the University of Texas as an instructor in physiology, concurrently taking a position as a marine biologist with the Texas Fish, Game and Oyster Commission. He received a Ph.D. in physiology and zoology from the University of Texas in 1945. The University of Texas founded the Institute of Marine Science at Port Aransas, Texas, in 1945, and Gunter began research there after receiving his Ph.D. He served as acting director of the institute from 1949 to 1954 and as its director from 1954 to 1955. He also was the editor of the University of Texas's Publications of the Institute of Marine Science from 1950 to 1955 and founded the publication Contributions to Marine Science.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gordon Gunter

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gordon Gunter claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gordon Gunter before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gordon Gunter ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gordon Gunter

In research: Gordon Gunter appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gordon Gunter in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gordon Gunter is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1909 births, 1998 deaths, 20th-century American zoologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gordon Gunter outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gordon Gunter in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gordon Gunter means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gordon Gunter out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gordon Gunter in simple terms?

Why does Gordon Gunter matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gordon Gunter?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gordon Gunter.